From Yahoo! Sports
An Iowa jury found a local school negligent for how it handled a football player's potential head injury, according to the Des Moines Register.
During the 2012 season, Bedford (Iowa) High School freshman Kacey Strough reportedly told his coach that teammates were repeatedly throwing footballs at his head. He also asked them to stop, to no avail. The coach said he would handle it, but reportedly did nothing.
The lawsuit, filed in 2013, said that Strough sustained head injuries as a result of the incident. The jury ruled Monday that the school must pay nearly $1 million in damages and medical fees, by far the largest payout in a high school head injury case.
While being hit in the head with a ball would be painful but not necessarily injury-inducing for most high school athletes, Strough was a unique case. He has a rare condition called cavernous malformation. Cavernous malformation causes blood vessels in the brain to form abnormally, which disrupts normal blood flow. It likely left Strough more susceptible to brain injury.
The school administration and nurse reportedly knew about his condition, yet failed to tell the coaches that he was more susceptible to a potential head injury. Under an Iowa state law passed in 2011, coaches and officials must remove an athlete from the field at the first possible sign of a head injury. The athletes are not allowed to return until being evaluated and cleared by a licensed medical professional. Strough was never removed from the field.
Within days of the ball-throwing incident, Strough showed signs of serious brain trauma – slurred speech, severe headaches, partial paralysis – and had to be hospitalized. He underwent surgery to remove a blood clot near his brainstem, which the lawsuit said was directly related to the incident and compounded by him continuing to play.
He hasn't fully recovered. Now 18, he uses a wheelchair and has permanent brain damage.
The jury awarded about $140,000 in medical expenses and $850,000 in "damages for pain and suffering, loss of mind and body, and loss of future earnings," according to the Des Moines Register.
The case originally focused on the administration's failure to respond when Strough reported being bullied. It was later amended to focus on the failure to comply with the 2011 concussion and head injury law.
“Hopefully as this law finds its way into the system, school districts, nurses and coaches can get together and act in a more prompt way to get these problems addressed,” said Strough's lawyer, Tom Slater.
This case officially goes down as a jury holding a school responsible for failing to protect an athlete who sustained a head injury. It seems to be just as much of a win for anti-bullying advocates, a milestone case in a year when high school football hazing and bullying seemed to hit a new high.
An Iowa jury found a local school negligent for how it handled a football player's potential head injury, according to the Des Moines Register.
During the 2012 season, Bedford (Iowa) High School freshman Kacey Strough reportedly told his coach that teammates were repeatedly throwing footballs at his head. He also asked them to stop, to no avail. The coach said he would handle it, but reportedly did nothing.
The lawsuit, filed in 2013, said that Strough sustained head injuries as a result of the incident. The jury ruled Monday that the school must pay nearly $1 million in damages and medical fees, by far the largest payout in a high school head injury case.
While being hit in the head with a ball would be painful but not necessarily injury-inducing for most high school athletes, Strough was a unique case. He has a rare condition called cavernous malformation. Cavernous malformation causes blood vessels in the brain to form abnormally, which disrupts normal blood flow. It likely left Strough more susceptible to brain injury.
The school administration and nurse reportedly knew about his condition, yet failed to tell the coaches that he was more susceptible to a potential head injury. Under an Iowa state law passed in 2011, coaches and officials must remove an athlete from the field at the first possible sign of a head injury. The athletes are not allowed to return until being evaluated and cleared by a licensed medical professional. Strough was never removed from the field.
Within days of the ball-throwing incident, Strough showed signs of serious brain trauma – slurred speech, severe headaches, partial paralysis – and had to be hospitalized. He underwent surgery to remove a blood clot near his brainstem, which the lawsuit said was directly related to the incident and compounded by him continuing to play.
He hasn't fully recovered. Now 18, he uses a wheelchair and has permanent brain damage.
The jury awarded about $140,000 in medical expenses and $850,000 in "damages for pain and suffering, loss of mind and body, and loss of future earnings," according to the Des Moines Register.
The case originally focused on the administration's failure to respond when Strough reported being bullied. It was later amended to focus on the failure to comply with the 2011 concussion and head injury law.
“Hopefully as this law finds its way into the system, school districts, nurses and coaches can get together and act in a more prompt way to get these problems addressed,” said Strough's lawyer, Tom Slater.
This case officially goes down as a jury holding a school responsible for failing to protect an athlete who sustained a head injury. It seems to be just as much of a win for anti-bullying advocates, a milestone case in a year when high school football hazing and bullying seemed to hit a new high.
